Careem, Uber drivers protest in response to ministry’s licensing decision

AMMAN — Careem and Uber drivers on Tuesday protested the one-week licensing period issued by the Ministry of Transport (MoT) after taxi drivers recently held demonstrations of their own last week, directed at “unfair competition” with ride-hailing apps.

During the recent taxi driver protests, drivers complained that some ride-hailing app drivers operate without a licence. Minister of Transport Walid Masri responded by giving the two apps one week to complete all of their drivers’ licensing procedures, a move which he said last week was “to prevent unfair competition”.

The one-week period, which ends on Thursday, “was not enough to complete all the long and complicated procedures of the ministry”, said Ahmed Bahrii, a Careem driver.

“Most of us drivers are college students; we have midterms and other commitments. The decision came out of nowhere, and we thought we had until the end of this year to complete everything,” said Husam Jubran, another Careem driver.

The apps’ drivers not only objected to the time period given to complete their licencing, but also to other regulations imposed on them which they said were “unfair”.

The regulations they cited included a licence lasting for three years instead of the usual 10 given to public-transport vehicles, the requirement of a rental car or one belonging to a first-degree relative and the requirement that the car must have been manufactured no more than seven years ago, which were the terms that the ministry demanded when it first licensed Uber and Careem.

Director general of MoT, Anmar Khasawneh, told The Jordan Times over the phone: “We are trying to give everyone a chance to compete fairly, and both sides still feel victimised. We will not extend the one-week period, as that was a decision made by the Prime Ministry.”